[aur-general] [And the culprit is...] Virtualbox quite suddenly can't access shared folder anymore

[Ralf Mardorf]

I don't know, but it's seemingly fixed.

1.

removed virtualbox-bin (6.0.10-1)
installed virtualbox-host-dkms (6.0.10-1)
installed virtualbox (6.0.10-1)
Rebooted into a kernel that worked a few days back.
Reinstalled the extensions.
When opening a shared folder the Windows 7 guest restored from a
snapshot still crashed and the machine ignores USB.

2.

removed virtualbox (6.0.10-1)
removed virtualbox-host-dkms (6.0.10-1)
installed virtualbox-bin (6.0.10-1)
downgraded systemd-libs (242.84-1 -> 242.32-3)
downgraded systemd (242.84-1 -> -> 242.32-3)
downgraded lib32-systemd (242.84-1 -> 242.32-1)
downgraded systemd-sysvcompat (242.84-1 -> 242.32-3)
Rebooted into a kernel that worked a few days back.
Reinstalled the extensions.
When opening a shared folder the Windows 7 guest restored from a
snapshot still crashed and USB is still missing.

3.

reinstalled systemd-libs (242.32-3)
reinstalled systemd (242.32-3)
reinstalled lib32-systemd (242.32-1)
reinstalled systemd-sysvcompat (242.32-3)
reinstalled virtualbox-bin (6.0.10-1)
Deleted the Virtualbox config, the guest and the shared folder:
~~~
$ sudo rm -Ir /mnt/winos7/* /home/rocketmouse/.VirtualBox/
~~~

Restored the Virtualbox config, the guest and the shared folder:

~~~
# cd /home/rocketmouse/ && time tar xf /mnt/u3.fantec2/2019-Jul/s3.archli*600_*tar.gz home/rocketmouse/.VirtualBox; echo $?; cd /mnt/winos7/ && time tar xf /mnt/u3.fantec2/2019-Jul/arcwinos7*600_*tar.gz; echo $?
# mv -i /home/rocketmouse/home/rocketmouse/.VirtualBox/ /home/rocketmouse/; echo $?
~~~

Rebooted into a kernel that worked a few days back.
Reinstalled the extensions.
Still no USB device available, at least this still worked yesterday.
The good news, now I can open the shared folder, which OTOH gains
nothing, if I can't connect portable devices via USB in the first place.

I shut down the Windows 7 guest, restarted it, again no USB, but access
to the shared folder is working.

4.

~~~
$ sudo pacman -Syu
[snip]
Packages (4) lib32-systemd-242.84-1  systemd-242.84-1  systemd-libs-242.84-1  systemd-sysvcompat-242.84-1
[snip]
~~~

Rebooted into the same kernel.
I didn't restore the Windows guest, even not from a snapshot.
USB is still missing, access to a shared folder still works.

~~~
$ grep upgrade /var/log/pacman.log
[snip]
~~~
The log seems to be no help.
The guest's settings show that USB 2.0 is enabled.
Strange:
~~~
$ ls -hAl /dev/vbox*
crw------- 1 root root      10, 57 Jul 28 15:28 /dev/vboxdrv
crw------- 1 root root      10, 56 Jul 28 15:28 /dev/vboxdrvu
crw------- 1 root root      10, 55 Jul 28 15:28 /dev/vboxnetctl

ls: cannot open directory '/dev/vboxusb': Permission denied
$ sudo ls -hAl /dev/vbox*
crw------- 1 root root      10, 57 Jul 28 15:28 /dev/vboxdrv
crw------- 1 root root      10, 56 Jul 28 15:28 /dev/vboxdrvu
crw------- 1 root root      10, 55 Jul 28 15:28 /dev/vboxnetctl

/dev/vboxusb:
total 0
drwxr-x--- 2 root vboxusers 80 Jul 28 15:20 002
drwxr-x--- 2 root vboxusers 60 Jul 28 15:20 004
$ id
uid=1000(rocketmouse) gid=1000(rocketmouse) groups=1000(rocketmouse),10(wheel),50(games),91(video),92(audio),93(optical),95(storage),98(power),100(users),150(wireshark),992(realtime),1003(vmanusers)
$ sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers rocketmouse
~~~

Logged out and in.

~~~
$ id
uid=1000(rocketmouse) gid=1000(rocketmouse) groups=1000(rocketmouse),10(wheel),50(games),91(video),92(audio),93(optical),95(storage),98(power),100(users),108(vboxusers),150(wireshark),992(realtime),1003(vmanusers)
~~~

USB access is back. Accessing a shared folder doesn't cause a crash
anymore. Everything seems to be fixed.

I've done absolutely nothing on my machine, other than upgrading from
official repositories, that could have broken Virtualbox's access to a
shared folder in the first place.

Actually I don't know what did cause the issue, neither what solved it.